When he's been sitting on her floor for nearly half an hour, he tries saying, "Eefa?"

She give him a look that is more "yes?" than "NO!" but doesn't say anything. 

"Is there anything that would help you feel better right now?"

She stays silent.

That's a suspicious question to ask, her instincts tell her, he probably wants to know so he can take whatever it is away from you and hurt you more. 

... she's not sure if the instincts are right but it's not like she has an answer to the question anyways. 

"Like some water, or a snack, or music, or a stuffed animal?"

... water is good - she's all sweaty and dehydrated now. And also a snack.

Should she admit this... she can try admitting one of them and see if that is okay. 

"Water."

"I'll go get you a cup of water."

He goes and gets her a cup of water, just like he said, and puts it on the floor within arm's reach of her corner.

She doesn't run even when he leaves - it doesn't seem likely to do any good and she wants to see if he's ac-tually getting the water.

She takes a sip of the water when he gives it to her, before she realizes that she doesn't know if it's okay to drink water. She considers spitting it out but she's really thirsty so she swallows. She's going to wait a bit before drinking more though - to see if it's okay.

It's cold but not icy. Tastes very clean.

"Better?" he asks.

Of course not? Nothing has changed. Well, he isn't hurting her so that's good.

Eefa does not reply.

"Eefa, we haven't hurt you so far. Right?"

This seems false, otherwise she wouldn't be feeling bad like she is now.

"I haven't hurt you, and Chioss hasn't hurt you, and the doctor hasn't hurt you, and the other kids haven't hurt you, and the night shift hasn't hurt you. You're very very scared. It's okay to be scared. But we haven't hurt you."

Eefa will be the judge of that.

"I think wherever you were before, you got hurt a lot. Now that's what you expect from everyone. But almost nobody actually wants to hurt little children."

Eefa giggles, sounding a bit unhinged.

She should probably be scared but it's just the most obviously false thing in the world. So obviously false it doesn't even feel like Mikko is trying to trick her.

"It's normal to be scared in your situation. I think you might be so used to being scared, and so used to being hurt, that it's hard to remember that they're different. But I don't want to hurt you, and Chioss doesn't either, and we won't bring anyone here who does. I don't think we have hurt you. If we did, it was an accident."

Eefa's giggles subside and she goes back to staring.

He's gonna try waiting quietly for another five.

She is clearly tired but still not letting her guard down.

"I want to be able to help you feel safe here. I know it's hard to want to feel safe, if you think you're not. But since I know you are, I want to know what would help you feel that way too."

She is so tired, and maybe this would stop and Mikko will go away if she gives an answer.

"If you know how to make me feel safe you'll also know how to trick me. And how to make me feel not safe," she whispers softly.

"Yeah. Trouble is, sometimes people taking care of kiddos need to do stuff that can seem scary. Like having the doctor over to see them. And it'd be better if that didn't scare you so much, since not seeing the doctor isn't safe at all."

Eefa has indeed noticed that sometimes people who have captured her think they really need to do stuff that seems scary! Sometimes they say they have reasons they think are super important! Like they really want to hurt Wolves and think she can do that or something.

And then they hurt her a bunch.

"I go to the doctor for a checkup every few months. Sometimes I don't really enjoy it - there are uncomfortable tests and embarrassing questions and sometimes even stuff that hurts a little bit. But people who don't go to the doctor as often as they should, or don't follow the doctor's instructions, are really likely to get sick more often and for longer than they would if they were being brave."